Gold Scholarship winner Chloe Keilers of Los Alamos High School. Courtesy/LANL Foundation
Gold Scholar Alexander Ortiz of Santa Fe High School. Courtesy/LANL Foundation
Gold Scholarship winner Charlotte Flory of Questa High School. Courtesy/LANL FoundationSeventy-eight New Mexico students received $422,500 in scholarships from the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund during a special event May 20 at the Study Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Chloe Keilers of Los Alamos High School, Alexander Ortiz of Santa Fe High School and Charlotte Flory of Questa High School, each received the top awards of $20,000 as Gold Scholars.
Keilers said she’ll attend Stanford University, her father’s alma mater, with her scholarship. “Physics is my current choice, but chemistry is seductive!” she said.
In addition to her academic achievements, Keilers shares knowledge and engages in discussion through her blog, “Hear Cloe” about the challenges teens face in living in the hearing world. As a hearing impaired teen, she wants to reach out to others who share her condition.
“My passion is 50 percent science, 50 percent helping people,” she said. “My career will take longer to achieve, but I can make a difference now by being a good friend, a person to count on, and a helpful part of my family and community.
Her mother, Marjorie Madson Keilers, said she and her husband Chuck are extremely proud of their daughter, “I think Chuck and I were even more thrilled than Chloe.”
Alexander Ortiz of Santa Fe High School will attend Northwestern University. His major interest currently is integrated science. At Northwestern, he’ll study an interdisciplinary curriculum of math, chemistry, biology and physics. “I hope to become a research scientist,” Ortiz said.
Charlotte Flory of Questa High School will study pharmacy at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Throughout her childhood she suffered a weak immune system and health challenges. Her mantra was, “Just because I’m sick doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”
“I spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices,” she said. “It sparked my interest in medications and the effects they have on the body.” Flory plans to pursue a Ph.D. and become a pharmaceutical researcher.
Since 1998, nearly $5 million has been awarded to more than 1,000 students. Scholarship funding comes from donations by LANL employees with a matching amount of up to $250,000 from Los Alamos National Security, LLC, as well as contributions from LANL retirees, local businesses and community members. Scholarships are administered by the nonprofit LANL Foundation.
Five students receiving $10,000 Silver Scholarships are Mahalia Bohsali, Vista Grande High School; Isabel Chavez, St. Michael’s High School; Eliza Harrison, Santa Fe Preparatory School; Katherine Schneider, V. Sue Cleveland High School; and Alexander Swart, Los Alamos High School.
Students receiving $10,000 Domenici Scholarships, named after former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., are Esteban Abeyta, Los Alamos High School; Erika Baca, Robertson High School; Roy Madrid, Taos High School; Onnica Pino, Mora High School; Alice Shao, Los Alamos High School; Shayline Stacy, Jemez Valley High School and Raina Wellman, Academy for Technology and the Classics.
Students receiving $10,000 John and Marti Browne Leadership Scholarships are Erica Diaz, Espanola Valley High School; Dawn Penso, Taos High School; and Erica Vigil, Espanola Valley High School.
New in 2015, the $10,000 Susan Herrera Scholarship, named after the retired founding LANL Foundation CEO, was awarded to Francesca Gonzales, West Las Vegas High School.
Bronze Scholarships of $1,000 each for up to four years were won by:
- Capital High School student Edith Solis
- Colorado State University – Fort Collins student Arielle Quintana
- Desert Academy students Eliza Donahue and Ceryndipity Schoel
- Espanola Valley High School students Marilynn Gallegos and Raquel Pacheco
- Escalante High School student Adriana Ortiz
- Homeschool student Andrew Hollis (Los Alamos)
- Los Alamos High School students Sudeep Dasari, Astrid Hengartner, Everett Key, Megan Kuzmack (Rio Arriba), Katharine Margevicius, Sara Stubben, Vincent Tang, Ashvini Vaidya and William Zhao
- McCurdy Charter School student Lynette Torrez
- Mesa Vista High School students Reina Duran and Luke Villareal
- Monte del Sol Charter School students Meghan Hill and Alberto Sosa Parada
- Naropa University student Delaney Covelli
- New Mexico State University student Jerome Sanchez
- Northern New Mexico College student Ross Griego
- Pojoaque Valley High School students Aodan Luther-Salazar, Daniella Martinez and Meagan Wheeler
- Pecos High School students Alyshia Maldonado and Isaac Ortiz
- Penasco High School students Alicia Lujan, Mapiya Rakestraw and Steven Vigil
- Questa High School student Delena Trujillo
- Robertson High School student Caitlin Diefendorf
- Santa Fe Community College student Lucy River
- Santa Fe High School students Isabel de Katona, Camille Sammeth and Ursula Vold
- Santa Fe Preparatory School students Bridget Bohlin, Molly Montgomery and Maxwell Thurston
- St. Michael’s High School students Ariana Giblin, Gabriel King and Andres Quan
- Taos High School students Shay Moon, Leonor Morrow and Giovanni Zepeda
- V. Sue Cleveland High School student Merilyn Beebe
- University of New Mexico student Sheri Lopez
Additionally, winners of $1,000 memorial and named scholarships are Allan Johnston Memorial Scholarship: Johnny Salazar, Northern New Mexico College; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Scholarship: Andres Quan, St. Michael’s High School; Tim Martin Memorial Scholarship for Mesa Vista High School students and graduates: Damonica Alderette, Alycia Campos, Christopher Dominguez, Reina Duran, Alejandria Gallegos, Ross Griego, Laura Perez-Guzman and Luke Villareal; Northern New Mexico American Society for Mechanical Engineering Scholarship: Aodan Luther-Salazar, Pojoaque Valley High School and Isaac Ortiz, Pecos High School; Rae Lee Siporin Scholarships: Tanisha Garcia, Navajo Preparatory School and Marilynn Gallegos, Espanola Valley High School; William & Gertrude Fradkin Memorial Scholarship: Eduardo Garcia-Melero, Bernalillo High School. Recipient of the Raymond M. Chavez Memorial Scholarship of $2500 is Dante Chavez Trujillo, Pojoaque Valley High School.
More than 400 students from Northern New Mexico submitted applications that displayed impressive academic rigor, leadership qualities, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in their schools and communities.
The 2015 scholarship fundraising campaign began May 18. Pledges will be used to award scholarships in 2016 to students from Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, and Taos counties. Northern New Mexico community members outside of the Laboratory are invited to contribute.
For more information, visit www.lanlfoundation.org.
